spinning, knitting and embroidery before completing a six-month tailoring course in Drvar. In 1938, an elementary school opened in Kamenica at which Velimir Stojnić was a trainee teacher. Stojnić, a member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia ( or KPJ, outlawed since 1921), organised a public library, reading and sports clubs and a cultural-artistic group. He established a secret KPJ cell in Kamenica in 1939, the first communist organisation in the area. His ideological convictions earned him a following among the village youth, including Marija's brother Dušan. The authorities soon became aware of Stojnić's activities, and he was removed from Kamenica in February 1940. World War II On 6 April 1941 Yugoslavia was invaded from all sides by the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany. The Royal Yugoslav Army ( or VKJ) capitulated on 17 April, and the Germans, Italians and Hungarians dismembered the country. A fascist puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia ( or NDH, including almost all of modern-day Croatia, all of modern-day Bosnia-Herzegovina and parts of modern-day Serbia) was proclaimed on 10 April. The NDH was an "Italian-German quasi-protectorate", controlled by the Croatian nationalist Ustaše movement under Ante Pavelić. One of the NDH's policies was to eliminate the state's ethnic Serb population with mass killings, expulsions and forced assimilation. The first Drvar Serbs were killed on 18 June 1941. The atrocities accelerated the formation of two large resistance movements in occupied Yugoslavia. Royalists and Serbian nationalists led by VKJ Colonel Draža Mihailović founded the Ravna Gora Movement, whose members were known as Chetniks. The KPJ, led by Josip Broz Tito, decided in Belgrade on 4 July to launch a nationwide armed uprising and the members of the KPJ-led forces became known as Partisans. Pro-Partisan activity Between 20 and 26 July 1941 local KPJ leaders organised three Partisan detachments, armed with about 200 rifles and seven light machine guns, in the immediate vicinity of Drvar; one was the Kamenica Detachment. Men from Kamenica had previously established a camp in a nearby forest for weapons and supplies. Bursać was one of the village's most active women, collecting food and clothing for the insurgents and serving as a courier for the Kamenica camp. On 27 July the Partisans liberated Drvar, beginning the uprising in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Over the next few days, other parts of Bosanska Krajina were also liberated, although at this stage the KPJ had little control of the